Monday’s Mini-Report, 5.9.16

* More on this tomorrow: “The Department of Justice has filed its own lawsuit— a move that ups the ante in a fight between the federal government and North Carolina’s governor in the legal battle over the state’s law regarding access to bathrooms. The state’s Gov. Pat McCrory turned up the heat earlier Monday and filed a lawsuit against the federal government.”

* Syria: “The Syrian military on Monday extended a fragile cease-fire that had broken down in the northern city of Aleppo, as the United States and Russia worked together to try to get peace talks back on track and quell the violence.”

* The “Panama Papers” database “went live and searchable today, stripping the veil of secrecy from thousands of offshore shell companies and the people who have used them to launder money, hide evidence of crimes, and keep income from the taxman.”

* Related news: “The Obama administration adopted a rule on Thursday that would require financial institutions to identify the true owners of companies they do business with, after leaks from a Panama law firm threw a spotlight on money hidden offshore.”

* ISIS: “The Pentagon announced Monday that a coalition airstrike killed Shaker Wahib, also known as Abu Wahib. Wahib is a mid-level ISIS fighter in Iraq and considered a brutal executioner.”

* Werner Faymann: “Austria’s chancellor resigned abruptly on Monday after seven and a half years in office, having lost control of his center-left Social Democratic Party amid a rightward shift fueled by anxiety over migration.”

* Saudi Arabia “dismissed its long-serving oil minister Ali al-Naimi on Saturday, marking the departure of one of the industry’s most powerful figures, as the country grapples with weak oil prices.”

* Florida: “A Miami-Dade judge has ruled that Florida’s death penalty is unconstitutional because jurors are not required to agree unanimously on execution – a ruling that will add to the ongoing legal debate over Florida’s capital punishment system.”

* On a related note: “Retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens has some words of advice for the Senate over its refusal to consider President Barack Obama’s nominee to the high court. ‘Go ahead and hold a hearing’ on Judge Merrick Garland, Stevens said Thursday.”

* Self-awareness is a virtue: “One of the most infamous media cheerleaders of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Judith Miller, derided young journalists Friday for failing to critically cover the rise of presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.”